PC "Back story", why is that a thing?

[Mr Blobby]

I saw this after posting but had to say I really love this idea and may steal it for the future. (If that is alright?)

Which idea is that then?

[RazorChain]

This is true.

And in some games, the GM is *expected* to weave the PCs into the story. Fate's big on that, for instance.

In other cases, not so much.

So, like many arguments in RPG-land, it's about expectations, and getting people on the same page. Expecting the GM to use your backstory is fine. Not expecting them to is fine. Expecting the players to write backstory is fine. Not expecting them to is fine.

It's when you have unspoken expectations that mismatch that there's a problem.

I think this all can be resolved by communicating expectations before play. I encourage backstories as I incorporate them into play, last adventure revolved around the PC's taking care of a bandit problem that was centered around one PC who is a merchant son and thwarting a rival merchant family. Everybody had fun and instead of fighting some random bandits then this scenario had more meaning to the PC's and when they visit the town of Prospero again most of the towns people are in their debt.

I tell the players beforehand that I will use their backstories and not always in the way the players expect, and those that have problems with writing backstories I help out by taking an interview with the character or just help out with the writing.

[obryn]

Frankly, it depends on the game. In Dungeon Crawl Classics, a backstory is crazy. In Fate Core games, your backstory is your character.

I prefer short & sweet, myself. More than a short paragraph and it's too much.

A good backstory is flexible, somewhat vague, ties into the setting, and gives the DM plot hooks to hang future adventures on. A bad one is long, overly wordy, and doesn't lead anywhere interesting. The latter also tend to be grimdark; I don't think that's a coincidence.

[Honest Tiefling]

You might as well ask why literary characters or video game characters have a backstory. Because it helps that particular genre of whatever and gives depth and flavor. It's not great in all genres, as you probably can enjoy games like Minecraft without giving Steve a backstory if that is what floats your boat. But if you want a story based game, maybe you should go and play something else...

[Max_Killjoy]

This is true.

And in some games, the GM is *expected* to weave the PCs into the story. Fate's big on that, for instance.

In other cases, not so much.

So, like many arguments in RPG-land, it's about expectations, and getting people on the same page. Expecting the GM to use your backstory is fine. Not expecting them to is fine. Expecting the players to write backstory is fine. Not expecting them to is fine.

It's when you have unspoken expectations that mismatch that there's a problem.

To be clear, I am not insisting that every GM should ask for detailed backstories in every game, and that every PC should be required to come with one -- merely explaining the utility and defending the idea against what I see as some rather perplexing objections.

[SethoMarkus]

Which idea is that then?

Both the "obituary" and the blue book ideas.

[Mr Blobby]

Can't claim credit for the 'Blue Book' - that was from my first 'proper' DM. The added bonus is that all that stuff is in one place - a DM/player can simply flick through it and get the thing they needed.

The 'obituary' idea is in fact the rarest of things; an original idea of mine. 'Write a backstory' means a different thing to every person. 'Write a short obituary as seen in a local paper' is much more consise and understandable.

[Max_Killjoy]

The "blue book" as a tool for tracking info and story notes for RPG PCs has been around since at least the early 90s.

They come from this, and the fact that blue books were available as cheap notebooks in most college bookstores.

.

[Mr Blobby]

Yes, I got bored at one point and found that page too.

However, both DM and I were in the UK, and had not been to the USA. I suspect he got the term from some 'DM's guide' or something...

[MrNobody]

In the games i run as a GM a backstory is not mandatory but encouraged: i usually run sandbox-like game, having a general plot (a major event the PCs will be dealing with, such as THE ARMAGEDDON IS HERE!!!!) but leaving my player move in it as they like.
In this kind of games, i use backstories to offer to my players "dedicated subplots" that they may enjoy playing, also including NPCs that they suggested to enrich the world and their gaming experience. They may follow them, they may not: it's their choice! A richer background only means that is easier for me to propose them a route.

As a player, i like to write my PCs backstory because it helps me to better understand and imagine their way of thinking. For example, if i run a Paladin, instead of writing down a short code of conduct I write about the situation in which that code was applied, often trying to explain WHY my PC applied that code in THAT way. The same applies to a wizard: he is interested in necromancy? WHY? WHICH event made him love it so much? WHEN necromancy stopped being A subject of his studies and became THE subject?

That said, a full backstory is not always necessary: you can write down just a couple of lines about the story and describe shorly the character behaviour, or you can do the latter in a couple of lines and totally bypass the story, or you can write nothing at all!!!

[Max_Killjoy]

Yes, I got bored at one point and found that page too.

However, both DM and I were in the UK, and had not been to the USA. I suspect he got the term from some 'DM's guide' or something...

Might be some history here:
http://www.gnomestew.com/game-master...-blue-booking/

It appears that there's some variation in how the term is used, from simply note-taking, to outright "off-camera gaming".

[kyoryu]

As GM, I may request a backstory, in various contexts, for various reasons....

(fistbump)

I think this all can be resolved by communicating expectations before play.

Always a good idea. Unfortunately, many people don't understand that their assumptions are exactly that - which is where a lot of problems occur.

I don't really know how to solve this problem in the general case. I know how to solve it in the specific case where I'm the GM, by going through exactly what I will and will not be doing in this campaign.

To be clear, I am not insisting that every GM should ask for detailed backstories in every game, and that every PC should be required to come with one -- merely explaining the utility and defending the idea against what I see as some rather perplexing objections.

To be clear, I'm agreeing with you - they're often very useful tools, especially for certain types of games. They're not required for *every* type of game though, and in some cases too detailed of a backstory, especially with expectations of incorporation, can be counter-productive.

[Malimar]

I think of backstories as important, but I'm inclined to take an inventory of characters I've played recently and contemplate how important their backstories have actually been:

• Dr. Blelyj - No backstory, just personality. Backstory still came up in play anyway, in that he turned out to be descended from a few different demon and devil NPCs.
• Dr. John Euler - In Changeling: The Lost, your character's personality and backstory are virtually one and the same. Backstory very important.
• Keyla Neylo - Only minimal backstory, but it still came up as important in play. (A bunch of paladins of Bahamut raided a drow encampment, found a drow girl child, couldn't bring themselves to kill her, and raised her to become a paladin of Bahamut herself. So when she found a clutch of black dragon eggs, it was very important to her that they be raised in the church and not just destroyed or sold, because of her background.)
• Scott Beardsley - Old retired empty-nester who took up adventuring as something to do after all his kids moved out, takes all his cues from what his wife (an adventuress) used to tell him about adventuring. Backstory centrally important to personality, and "what would my wife do in this situation?" keeps coming up in play as Scott's guiding light.
• Alex d'Cannith - Her personality has a lot to do with the Becoming God, and finding the Becoming God is a large part of her backstory. Still, her backstory mostly serves her personality, not the other way around.

Conclusion: backstory is even more important than I thought.

Mindless hack and slash is a valid play style, and in that case you don't need a backstory, but if you're role-playing, how can you not have a backstory?

[5a Violista]

And when the GM decides that the character's sister comes looking for them and tracks them down in some forsaken troubled town because their mother is sick... and the player "has it in their head" that the PC is an only child because their mother died in childbirth...

...what happens then?

In that case, the character's "sister" takes the PC alone in a room at knifepoint and reveals that she's a courier hired by the Duke of Wherever to deliver a batch of iocane powder, and the only way she can get past the guards of town she needs to get in is by posing as the daughter of a noblewoman with consumption, and it's well-known that all the noblewoman's children have gone missing in war, and it's easiest to pull this con by having the PC pose as one of these MIA soldiers.

Alternatively, after the PC reveals that he/she has no siblings, the soldiers come in and capture the character's "sister" because she was a fugitive and came to the PC pretending to be the PC's sister as a way to hint that she needed help.

Or the woman is the PC's half-sister on the father's side and needs help overthrowing their warlord father. Or maybe she's actually a spy and the DM then reveals how the PC objecting so vehemently that he/she doesn't have a sister completely blows her cover.

Of course, it would be a whole lot easier to set one of these up if the player had, at some point, revealed themselves to be an only child.

[IntelectPaladin]

You know what?
All I had to do to be upset at this is just read the thread title,
and the creator's first post.
I'm actually surprised at how angry I am at this.
Why have backstory? Because I've had the same char and ONLY char for over a full year!
I don't "whoops, that dagger happened, here comes barbarian no. 413.15."!
It's as if he said "why are wierdo's going around being human?"
DnD isn't just about the dice, it's about what the dice gives us, the players, who happen to be people.
We use our mind's eye to play a game that logically speaking is mere paper and plastic.

Without imagination, or flexing what creativity or emotion we have for enjoyment of the game,
The game has no point.
What about all of those moments where you nat-twenty your attempt to lift a building?
Or when the D.M. uses their creativity to make your nat-one the funniest story of the year?
The funny stories on here inspired me to go into DnD in the first place.
Backstory is part of the game, as much so as the dice. We have it because it's part of how we play,
It's how we make our characters more interesting to have,
to make more connections and events avalible in the game,
and lastly, because it's what we enjoy.

I apologize the the length of this rambling,
so thank you for putting up with me.
I know what I'm like. But I'm still me. And I'd rather be me than anyone else.
And thank you for reading this, and I hope you have a better day!

[Ceiling_Squid]

You might as well ask why literary characters or video game characters have a backstory. Because it helps that particular genre of whatever and gives depth and flavor. It's not great in all genres, as you probably can enjoy games like Minecraft without giving Steve a backstory if that is what floats your boat. But if you want a story based game, maybe you should go and play something else...

Videogames and literature are tightly-scripted mediums, and the comparison is nonsensical as a result.

"Story-based game" - that's a loaded term to unpack, and means different things in certain contexts. What does that even mean? What plot or story is there to serve, in a non-railroaded game?

RPGs are collaborative experiences, and subject often to randomness. Going barebones on "backstory" is a perfectly valid way to play them, because character history can be emergent. It's not to everyone's taste, but you can do a lot with a back-cover blurb and some character traits.

Mindless hack-n-slash isn't my thing, but neither is spending an hour writing the backstory for a character who could die unexpectedly, putting a lot of effort to waste. I don't control the payoff to their character arc...the course of the game does.

Without authorial control, the videogame/literature comparison utterly breaks down.

[Thrudd]

There's no expectation that it WILL appear -- it's an available hook, and gives the GM details to work with.

It doesn't even have to be massive drama or eating up table time... if I imagine the character is an orphan who grew up on the streets, and the GM throws in a letter from the family as a bit of color/fluff... what then? As a GM, I'd rather know ahead of time that a PC was an orphan and not stumble over that avoidable bump.

Frankly, I'm a bit confused by this apparent assertion that an extensive backstory is an attempt by the player to hijack the game.
.

So you're saying you wouldn't be upset, or at least disappointed, if the background you spent so much time and effort on was never referenced by the GM? If the GM decides they don't need or want the hooks and details in your character's history?

I'm not saying there is no place for detailed character stories in certain games, but it isn't a universal. As you said, you have never played a game where characters die early on. I started with Basic and 1e AD&D where it was most common early on, and I still run games in this vein.
Unless a GM asked me for a very detailed character history with hooks for the game, I wouldn't presume this was wanted. Most World of Darkness games I played and ran were along these lines, with a story crafted or at least modified around the ideas the players introduced as they collaboratively designed character stories. D&D games mostly are not like this, here I just need "Brawny the fighter and his gang of treasure hunters who want to make a name for themselves".

[Mr Blobby]

So you're saying you wouldn't be upset, or at least disappointed, if the background you spent so much time and effort on was never referenced by the GM? If the GM decides they don't need or want the hooks and details in your character's history?...

That is a fair point - but something which I feel would be solved with the DM being honest with the player when something just won't fit [hook wise], however way they thought about it.

But if the DM knows what kind of game the player wants to play, *and* has been provided with story hooks, the chances of a good game increase.

I feel my obituary / blue-book made piecemeal method offers the best compromise. By itself, it provides just enough skin to put over a character sheet. For a long-runner, it's a sturdy skeleton to which the player can add muscle over time. And if the character dies early on... oh well, you [the player] didn't lose much...

[goto124]

Consider that your humble DM spends so much time preparing a lovely little campaign in your honour, does the most work and usually the most dedicated and all for free I might add .

Could you as player not find it in your heart to honour his generosity with a little bit of nice "toilet" reading material regarding your underpowered and just plain stupid no good character rendered even more useless because its a multiclass ?

Usually I just go along with the GM's story. All the GMs I've been with are more than happy with it. I've never seen a GM get upset that my character was undeveloped, they tend to get more upset over rude or disruptive actions.

I've never used anything to justify disruptive actions. I've never made a GM get upset over my PCs' actions.

Even when my PCs have the barest of backstories, those backstories get tossed out in all of one second. It was either "forget the backstory" or "stop playing the game". For me, the backstory, like the character's personality, is a tool. If it disrupts the game, out it goes.

Though, considering they get tossed out long before I get to the meat of the game, I wonder what I'm doing wrong. I'm not even sure if I've ever actually RP'd before, despite all the games I'm in.

Then again, the blue book method doesn't work for me. My PCs never die, but the games they take part in do, very often. Nearly every game they've been in dies in the intro, or just past the intro. Others go a bit further. In all cases I never found out what was even happening/supposed to happen in the first place. It's been months or years, and my characters haven't gone through enough material to build a backstory.

And even in the one case it happens, I still don't know how to link the events to the character's backstory and personality. All they did was pick up a quest, killed some monsters, returned and claimed a reward. What can I write from that? I could just list down everything my character did in their adventures, like a journal, but that doesn't help with roleplay.

I wonder if 'Write a short obituary as seen in a local paper' could be taken too literally and written as if the character had no flaws at all (due to the dead and all that), or with no 'hidden' aspects of the character written inside. Or written rather funnily if the character is undead

[2D8HP]

... I'm trying to get some PbP D&D in.
[...]
What is up with this "back story" stuff? Why is it important?

(emphasis mine)

I think this is partly a difference in the medium. When playing in person, you generally assemble* your group out of friends/acquaintances. In play-by-post, many DMs post open recruiting threads, and often get far more potential players than they want in a single game. So how do they choose?

The most popular* methods are 1) first come first serve (the first 5 people to post interest/post a finished character sheet are in), and 2) selecting based on which characters the DM likes. In the latter case, your backstory basically functions as a writing sample: the DM reads it to get an impression of your style, the kinds of stories you might like and the kinds of ideas you come up with. That, I think, is why backstory gets more emphasis in online games than tabletop.

Writing sample?
O.K. that makes sense then.

Which means that half the time it drives the story.
And even when it doesn't drive the story it usually puts in a token appearance.
Which is why they are a terrible example of backstory not being relevant.


Now if you want an example of backstory being irrelevant from Appendix N, you could with Cugel the Clever from the Dying Earth books.
His backstory is: he is a thief, and . . .
Yeah, that's it - he's a thief.
So he tries to steal from this wizard and gets hosed.
Everything else about his personality is demonstrated within the stories, with the most minimal linkage between the episodes to keep them as an ongoing story arc. Indeed the only reason that his robbing a wizard is relevant past the first episode is that he is determined to get revenge for being geased by said wizard. Otherwise it would be nothing but a sequence of thinly connected episodes.

Jack Vance was AWESOME! Long live Appendix N! There was an anthology "Songs of Dying Earth" which are the "Dying Earth" setting by other authors. Good stuff!

And when the GM decides that the character's sister comes looking for them and tracks them down in some foresaken troubled town because their mother is sick... and the player "has it in their head" that the PC is an only child because their mother died in childbirth...

...what happens then?

Actually for me discovering backgrounds in play like that is part of the fun, and I thank GM's who provide it!

Conan according to 2D8HP is just some guy who rolled well for Strength, Wisdom, and Constitution and decided to play a Barbarian.

If you mean Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution then that would be "Gorstag "Grim" Greycastle, a CN Noble background human Barbarian, who is young, strong, quick and is just extraordinarily charmless, stupid and unwise. He suffers from the delusion that by "great feats of arms", he may win the acceptance of his family and peers.
Because stupid is fun!

You know what?
All I had to do to be upset at this is just read the thread title,
and the creator's first post!

Um...sorry!

[Âmesang]

I find the amount of backstory I write for a particular character typically depends on the character's level and how long said character is played as. I wouldn't expect anyone to write copious amounts of backstory for a brand-new, 1st-level greenhorn… but if you're starting at 11th-level it'd be nice to know how that character became a legendary figure (according to the legend lore spell). At the very least I'd agree it's good to have maybe a paragraph or two explaining background, personality, and motivations… adding to it over time not only based on the character's adventures but also on whatever might happen to come to mind that didn't come to mind before.

Granted I do like at least a little bit of character history. Otherwise if he's just "Bob the Fighter. He fights," than what's the point of even giving him a name or a race? If he's just "a fighter" than why go any further than that?

…although I'm very guilty of multi-page back-stories because I don't know when to shut up.

I'm guilty of this, too, at least for one long running character… which I find personally amusing because she was based on a character I had created in the wholly unrelated videogame, SoulCalibur III, using its character creation mode. Much of her backstory actually came about through sheer coincidence (such as being a near-perfect match for a particular sub race, important race-related locations found on a logical path via trade routes, and the city she did the bulk of her adventuring in just so happened to be near her ancestral homeland).

Granted, it also helped that I started the character higher than 1st-level so that also made it easier to explain how she got from Point A to Point B. Although a fun thing about backstories is trying to explain your character's class features. For example, sorcerers are proficient with more weapons than wizards. Why? The explanation for that can add to the character, I imagine (said character was perhaps allied with a local thieves' guild, which could also explain Bluff as a class skill and, taking a page from the Book of Vile Darkness, learning how to manufacture poisons via Craft [alchemy]).

…oddly enough I still haven't written anything about her immediate family or even given them names; I was thinking of waiting just in case I ever played a 1st edition game and chose to play as one of them. Since it's said that some members of her people can trace their families all the way back to their ancestral empire I may attempt to draw up a family tree for her. No one would care in the long run, I'm sure, but since the character's played as a noble (and a very boastful and egotistical one at that) it would be appropriate… and a fun little silly challenge, too.

…and the sheep-farmer's daughter who took her grandfather's militia sword and ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage to the village twerp.

Suddenly I want to play as that singing prince from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Heck, the fact that his father had to build multiple castles is some backstory in and of itself.

EDIT: Bah! I forgot to mention that lately I've been using the Monster Manual IV / V entries as a template to help write out backstories—not only in what to write but how much to write.

[minderp]

Our group has players who are all completely different in how they play and how invested in the story they are. I am too far gone on the obsessive side. I concoct elaborate backstories, write 20 page story-like journals of each session and paint my favourite scene from every session. I also create my character sheet around the story. Why would a high ranking noble have epic lockpicking skills? Because the fair lady of the noble house is only a front... she's secretly a trained assassin working for the king... etc etc.
One of our players uses the 'he has amnesia' excuse to get out of bothering with any type of backstory.
When i create the backstory, i work closely with the DM to incorporate the it into the campaign. Plan side mission, unveiling past secrets, developing the characters story further. Some of our players have asked me to write up their backstory for them, including them in my characters past to create a viable reason that we're all together in the campaign.
Also depends on what the campaign is. RotRL we just sort of all showed up in Sandpoint for whatever reason, played it for two years and everyone swapped characters multiple times when they died. Got to the end and we all kind of went... wait, so why are we here? Do any of us actually know what is actually going on?

Each to their own, its super important to me, but i understand it isn't important to some. I'll continue writing my epic tales, because it makes me happy to really feel involved and invested in the journey. :)

[Max_Killjoy]

Actually for me discovering backgrounds in play like that is part of the fun, and I thank GM's who provide it!

The idea of someone else handing me the backstory, the formative events and details, of my character, leaves me absolutely drained of any enthusiasm for a game.

If I wanted that, I'd play a CPRG -- even Mass Effect or DA:O let you choose some details of your character's history.

[2D8HP]

The idea of someone else handing me the backstory, the formative events and details, of my character, leaves me absolutely drained of any enthusiasm for a game.

If I wanted that, I'd play a CPRG -- even Mass Effect or DA:O let you choose some details of your character's history.

I've never played a "CRPG" (I had to "Google" what "Mass Effect", and "DA:O" are), so you mean video games?
I played "Adventure" and "Ghost and Goblins" back in the 80"s, which were obviously "inspired" by D&D, but which were hardly the same experience at all. I prefer TRPG's (in my day they were known as ""FRP's") in which you explore a fantastic world in your imagination, while thinking up shenanigans for your PC to attempt.

[Milo v3]

I've never played a "CRPG" (I had to "Google" what "Mass Effect", and "DA:O" are), so you mean video games?

The C stands for computer. Computer Roleplaying Games.

[Max_Killjoy]

I've never played a "CRPG" (I had to "Google" what "Mass Effect", and "DA:O" are), so you mean video games?
I played "Adventure" and "Ghost and Goblins" back in the 80"s, which were obviously "inspired" by D&D, but which were hardly the same experience at all. I prefer TRPG's (in my day they were known as ""FRP's") in which you explore a fantastic world in your imagination, while thinking up shenanigans for your PC to attempt.

Yes, "computer RPGs". And the point is, if I ever want someone else to hand me the story of the character I'm playing, there are games where those limits at least make some sense, and they're played alone, on a computer, where much of it has to be preprogrammed and prerecorded and so on.

You seem to have mistaken that for some sort of statement of preference for CPRGs, and turned it around as a strawman to attack so you can take some sort of high ground about "fantastic" and "imagination".


If I'm in the far less limited medium of a tabletop, pen-and-paper RPGs, I'll decide who my character is and where they come from, not the GM. The GM gets input in terms of what is and is not possible in the setting they're presenting, but that's it. You're making comments about imagination and freedom to come up with things, and yet somehow doing that in defense of the notion of someone else handing you your character's background.

.

[OldTrees1]

I've never played a "CRPG" (I had to "Google" what "Mass Effect", and "DA:O" are), so you mean video games?
I played "Adventure" and "Ghost and Goblins" back in the 80"s, which were obviously "inspired" by D&D, but which were hardly the same experience at all. I prefer TRPG's (in my day they were known as ""FRP's") in which you explore a fantastic world in your imagination, while thinking up shenanigans for your PC to attempt.

I am confused.

Max_Killjoy said they don't like to be handed their backstory and emphasized that statement by saying they would prefer the little choice a Computer RPG (RPG video games) offers over a DM handing them a backstory. It is implied that Max_Killjoy prefers TRPGs where they are not handed their backstory.

You replied (as quoted above) by strongly emphasizing you also prefer TRPGs over CRPGs but your reply's had an argumentative tone. Almost as if you were saying "But I prefer TRPGs and so should you for <reasons>". Since Max_Killjoy also prefers TRPGs I do not understand how your post follows.

[KorvinStarmast]

PC "Back story", why is that a thing?
Because it's fun. My first D&D group was a pure dungeon crawl. I rolled up a magic user, and we went into the dungeons in search of fights and loot.

Beginning with our second D&D group, we all decided to figure out "how we got to that tavern to begin our adventure." Just a quick note: two of the guys in our group are now published authors. They keep asking me to get a book or short story written ... not there yet.

In college, a couple of years later, I joined an already existing group, as a lower level. Their story was already well in progress, so the DM asked me to come up with where my thief came from and how he arrived in town. (He ended up dying in a fight with some evil high priests).

So we rolled up a druid, and I made a back story for him. It was a better story and he survived longer as a character.

We do it because it's fun.

[Pugwampy]

Everyone has a real life . Its hard enough for them to even update their character sheets . I dont ask for nor expect backstories . One dedicated competitor will make a back story just so he can get extra trait powers for his character . Some players think they can get freebees like a magic goodie if they peddle a back story . I usually go with it just to see if they will do it .


For me it depends how long I play a character . I like traits but i wont make a back story for a one session game .

[mephnick]

Mindless hack and slash is a valid play style, and in that case you don't need a backstory, but if you're role-playing, how can you not have a backstory?

Because role-playing is making decisions in character. That's it. It has nothing to do with backstory, acting or funny voices.

I can play a blank slate character and decide on his personality as the game progresses. "I'm a strong fighter, so I fight the thing" counts. I'm still role-playing, the role just isn't as strictly defined.